Eurogamer
has word from Valve Software on plans for a retail release of Half-Life 2:
Aftermath, the upcoming expansion for their first-person shooter sequel. The
report says the add-on is due in September, and they are finalizing a deal with
a new publisher for retail distribution. Last month it was announced that as
part of a legal settlement, Vivendi Universal Games will cease distributing the
retail versions of Valve's games as of August 31 of this year
(story), leaving open the possibility that the Aftermath add-on
would only be available digitally via Steam. Valve partnered with Activision
for the retail release of Day of Defeat (story) in what was
termed at the time as a multi-title deal, but there isn't a clear indication who
Valve is working with at this point.